


Retelling

by AshsHorrorShow



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Cute, Family, Gen, Talltail feels awkward
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2016-01-17
Packaged: 2018-05-14 11:07:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5741449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshsHorrorShow/pseuds/AshsHorrorShow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It seems that even in StarClan, Shrewclaw is still trying to get on Talltail's last nerve. This time, the annoyance comes in the form of a son. A son who is wanting to hear a rather favorable opinion about his late father.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Retelling

**Author's Note:**

> One of the Erin Hunters had said that she liked the idea of Shrewclaw being Mudclaw's father, and I decided to write something based off that idea.

Talltail was pretty sure that he was never going to be a father in his lifetime. Not that he was even interested in taking a mate in the first place, but even if he managed to get one as the moons went by, he couldn’t imagine himself becoming a father. Cats were usually shocked when he confessed this sort of thing. After all, kits always had seemed to gravitate towards him for some reason and always seemed to want him to participate in their little games. Surely someone who spent that much time around kits and had such a way with them would want to sire kits of his own, right? Talltail could safely disagree with that fact. In fact, his overexposure is what actually convinced him that he was simply not patient enough to be a father. After all, when you had to deal with a variety of kits over time, you got to see all sides of them and while yes, kits could be cute, innocent, cuddly, and nice, they could also be-

“Ouch!” Talltail practically yelped when he felt the sensation of needle-sharp claws sinking into the flesh of his tail, successfully snapping him out of his thoughts. Once the initial surprise had worn off, Talltail turned his attention away from the rabbit he’d been eating to look over at the mottled-brown kit currently clinging to his tail, now attempting to sink his teeth into it. Talltail thankfully managed to swish it away in time. 

“Die, ShadowClan warrior,” he heard the kit growl, the small tom’s amber eyes glittering with determination as he once again tried to latch his teeth onto Talltail’s tail, “I will show you the strength of WindClan when I send you straight to StarClan.”

Now, Talltail liked to consider himself a generally patient cat, but right now, it was taking every fiber of his being to not give Mudkit the cuff in the ear he deserved. He held off on this action though, knowing that if he did that, Mudkit’s mother, Ryestalk, would do more than just give him a cuff on the ears if he laid a paw on her only kit. Good StarClan, he would be lucky if he had any ears at all. The she-cat was fiercely protective of the small tom. So instead, he decided to go for a more peaceful approach. Turning around, he looked the kit in the eyes and meowed, “Mudkit… may I ask why you thought it would be a good idea to attack my tail with your claws unsheathed?”

Mudkit blinked at him innocently and meowed, “Because you’re the only warrior who allows me to play without yelling at me!” Talltail was about to mention that that status may quickly change, but the kit interrupted him, “Plus, I wanted to ask you a question, Talltail…”

“Stop attacking my tail and I will answer one for you,” Talltail said diplomatically, “I will even let you share my rabbit with me.”

Mudkit immediately (and thankfully) scampered away from his tail and joined him near the rabbit, lying down to tear himself off a piece. Mudkit had finally gotten to eat his first meat-meal and to say the tom was a voracious eater was an understatement. As he watched the kit munch away at the rabbit, he prepared himself for the typical questions kits usually asked him: ‘can you tell me a story about this battle?’ ‘What’s it like to be a deputy?’ ‘Why did you run away from home so long ago?’ 

What he didn’t expect was for Mudkit to look up at him, cock his head and meow, “Talltail, can you tell me what my father was like?”

He shouldn’t have been eating at that moment. He nearly choked on the morsel he was in the middle of swallowing, only managing to catch it slightly before he embarrassed himself. Swallowing, he meowed, “Surely Ryestalk has talked about Shrewclaw with you?” He had been her mate after all and he knew that while their relationship had been rather discreet, that the she-cat and tom had adored each other. Surely she had spilled something to this kit about his father?

Mudkit’s ears flattened a little and Talltail was actually surprised to see some shyness out of the boisterous kit; the mottled tom unable to meet his gaze and scuffling his paws in the ground. His small tail swishing in the dirt, he heard Mudkit meow, “Well, yeah she does. She tells me he was a brave warrior and everything and tells me he was the coolest…but she is supposed to like him. He was her mate! I want to know what he was like. Mom says you were the last cat to see him alive and… well, I just want to know what he was like. Was he really as cool as mom said he was?”

Talltail grimaced, mentally cursing Shrewclaw in his mind. It certainly wasn’t the first time. It was no secret to any cat of WindClan who knew the both of them that Shrewclaw and Talltail had never been the best of friends. From the constant taunts to the nickname “Wormcat,” to Brackenwing’s death… they had never really gotten along as friends. He had grown to respect the brown tom when he returned to WindClan and matured enough to see his side… and he had admittedly been just as sad as most of his Clanmates when he saw Shrewclaw’s throat get torn open by the claws of that ShadowClan warrior… however, that didn’t exactly mean Talltail’s opinion on the tom and his personality changed much. Some would criticize him on that, but he could bet his tail that Shrewclaw was sitting up in StarClan with the exact same opinion of him. It seems Shrewclaw was getting the final laugh though as he was dead and had left behind a single son. A son who looked all too similar to said father and had seemingly the same boisterous and arrogant/annoying personality. A son who was now curious and wanting to know details about his father. Somehow even in death, Shrewclaw managed to annoy him by not being there for his son. Not that it was his fault of course, but Talltail couldn’t help but feel somewhat annoyed at the thought Shrewclaw was getting the last laugh right now in StarClan while he had to explain him to his son. He flattened his ears a bit at the thought and grimaced, hoping Mudkit wouldn’t notice.

What was he supposed to say to the kit? Part of him didn’t exactly want to be dishonest, but that would ruin the kit’s image of his father forever. He didn’t want to see a kit heartbroken and disappointed or even worse, approving of his father and calling Talltail ‘Wormcat.’ He already went through that torture once and he didn’t need it again. However, he felt if he overdid it with the compliments, he would be lying through his teeth and he just couldn’t do that. Mudkit was coming to him with the expectation that he would be honest…

Finally, he decided to try and do an awkward compromise. Swishing his tail, he said, “Well, your father and I had an interesting dynamic… we didn’t necessarily get along the best all of the time.”

Mudkit’s eyes widened and before Talltail could continue, he asked, “Why not? You’re the best Talltail. You talk to me and play with me and everything? Why did my dad not like you?”

Fox-dung. This is exactly what he didn’t want happening. Now Mudkit was asking questions and if Talltail wasn’t careful he was going to get himself in trouble sooner or later. However, he couldn’t just ignore the kit’s questions either, “Well, we didn’t exactly hate each other. We just never got along the best. How do I explain this… you know how you feel about Onekit?” 

Mudkit’s nose immediately crinkled in disgust. Talltail knew that the mottled brown tom never did get along with his den mate very well since Mudkit usually liked to roughhouse while Onekit didn’t. Mudkit would often leave the other kit in a spat, hissing that Onekit was a mouse-heart. Personally, Talltail didn’t think Onekit was too bad… he had talked to the kit a couple of times and had appreciated the fact that the light brown tom didn’t try to immediately play with him and the kit seemed incredibly soft-spoken and kind for his age. Talltail could see him being a good warrior, maybe even a medicine cat apprentice. However, Mudkit didn’t seem to see eye-to-eye with him. 

“Onekit is nothing but a softie mouse-heart…” Mudkit muttered darkly, glaring at the ground as if it were Onekit himself. Talltail couldn’t help but wonder if Mudkit was Onekit’s version of his Shrewclaw. He held back that comment though and simply flicked Mudkit’s shoulder, scolding, “Hey, focus now. Onekit isn’t that bad and even if you two don’t see eye to eye, you got to learn to get along with him at some point. He’s your Clanmate and his life is just as important as your own, you hear?”

“Yes, Talltail…” Mudkit murmured grudgingly and Talltail doubted he meant any of that. Oh well, maybe the kit would learn someday.

“Well, how you feel about him is how you and Onekit probably feel about each other.”

Mudkit’s ears flattened a bit as he mewed, “Why did you guys not like each other?”

“Well uh… we were two very different cats and we had different destinies. I was meant to be digging tunnels while he was meant to run the fields and we just didn’t see eye to eye on somethings…” 

He suddenly saw Mudkit bristle defensively as he said, “Were you mean to my father?”

“No,” Talltail said immediately and he was just about to tell this kit the what for but he bit his tongue in time and thought about it. After all, he was supposed to be the mature one here... and now that he thought about it, this would be a good teaching component. So, clearing his throat, he said, “Well at least not all the time. You have to understand, Shrewclaw and I weren’t the nicest to one another for a while… especially when we were your age. We blamed each other for things, we berated each other, and we were overall pains in the tails in general. However, we grew up and you know what I realized about your father?”

Mudkit looked suspicious, as if he was expecting Talltail to say something mean to him about his father, but he could tell the curiosity was tugging at the kits heart as the brown tom mewed, “What?” 

“I realized that Shrewclaw was one of the most loyal warriors out there. He taught me something about loyalty that I never realized before. Sure, we never got along, but you know what? Your father would’ve been willing to sell his paws over to protect me and his Clan. It didn’t matter if we were friends or not. We were Clanmates and he understood we were stuck together whether we liked it or not and he realized we needed each other. That is what it means to be a warrior and he taught me that. That day he died in battle with ShadowClan… I mourned him like I had lost a brother. Your father died protecting his Clanmates and he had fought with every inch of his soul. He was truly a brave warrior like your mother said and I miss him now.”

Mudkit blinked at the onslaught of information and Talltail himself had to admit, he was surprised all of that had come out of his own mouth as well. However, he found he didn’t really regret a word of it. It was true after all. Shrewclaw was a pain and annoying, but he had served his Clan well. Talltail was glad he had met him in that sense. Flicking Mudkit on the nose, he then meowed, “You should remember that next time you and Onekit squabble. One day you might have to rely on each other on battle and a true warrior would fight tooth and claw to protect him, you hear?”

Mudkit looked at him wide-eyed for a moment, like Talltail was some sort of alien creature before finally nodding. He watched as the kit looked away almost thoughtfully, twitching his whiskers as he murmured, “My mom was right… Dad really was cool…”

Talltail sighed with relief that he hadn’t made the kit dislike his father any less. He was sure if he had done that Ryestalk would’ve let him know with her claws. What he didn’t expect was Mudkit to look at him and meow, “You are pretty cool too, Talltail. Thank you.”

Then before Talltail could reply the kit scampered away to do StarClan knows what. Talltail sighed with relief at having accomplished that. He looked up at the sky and meowed, “You owe me for that one, Shrewclaw…”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed. Critiques as always are appreciated. I apologize for the horrible title.


End file.
